A Good Man
by Iceache
Summary: Brennan glanced at Booth from the corner of her eye and then made eye contact with Sweets. “Yes, Booth has a well defined bone structure and symmetrical features that suggest he would be a very viable mate.”
1. Chapter 1

Booth fiddled absently with his cufflinks as Brennan stared coolly at the young psychologist. Dr Sweets' wore his characteristic non-smile, waiting patiently for one of his subjects to answer his question. Neither one appeared to be ready. He sighed and bridged his fingers in front of his face and then leaned forward in a more invasive manner.

"Agent Booth? Don't you know why you interfere in Doctor Brennan's social relationships?" He ducked his head to make eye contact with Booth who let out an exasperated sigh.

"Why is taking an interest considered as 'interfering'? Can't I simply take an interest in my partner's life? Make sure she's not dating any whack jobs? She's got a knack for picking them you know."

Both men looked to Brennan who wore an indignant expression.

"I do not! Yes, perhaps I haven't been the best judge of character in the past couple of years, but that doesn't mean that I'm not capable of choosing my own partners Booth."

Dr Sweets watched on silently as Booth folded his hands behind his head. "I'm just saying Bones, four or five crazies in a row, kinda seems like a pattern to me."

Brennan turned to Sweets and gestured to Booth, "He obviously wants to be involved in my relationships because he doesn't have one of his own."

Sweets smiled as Booth gave her a disbelieving smile. Holding up both hands he nodded at them both. "Okay, let's address some of these issues. Why Dr Brennan, do you feel that you need to date more than one man simultaneously?"

Brennan looked from Booth quickly to Sweets, she shrugged her shoulders. "I think that there are many attractive qualities, intelligence attracts me equally as much as physical attractiveness. I found both of my dates attractive, but in different ways."

Sweets nodded again and smiled. "It's natural for us to be attracted to more than one person at any one time, and generally we are able to live our lives without conflict. But society widely accepts a monogamous value. Another woman who found both intelligence and physical attractiveness desirable in a partner would simply attempt to find a partner who possessed both traits."

"Ha! You see Bones.... Sweets agrees with me, a normal person would just date one guy." Booth smiled triumphantly at Brennan and smugly turned back to Sweets. Brennan rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. Sweets chuckled and shook his head.

"I'm not saying that Dr Brennan is wrong, but I'm more wondering if Dr Brennan feels that she couldn't be satisfied with one man if he possessed everything that she found attractive in both of her partners."

"Of course, it would have been less hassle. I don't have the time to look for men. I don't believe that just anyone could fulfil what i deem to be attractive?"

Sweets leaned back in his chair and watched Booth carefully. He was watching Brennan with a blank expression. "What about agent Booth?"

"What?" Brennan's attention was suddenly on his alert as she shot out the question, Booth's eyes had darted from Brennan to Sweets.

"Well, do you think that agent Booth is an attractive man?"

"Sweets, what has this got to do with anything?" Booth looked slightly out of sorts as he tried to save his partner from answering the question and potentially creating tension between them.

Sweets smiled. "I'm simply trying to make Dr Brennan see that she more than likely does meet men everyday that fulfil her criteria for partners who would wholly satisfy her needs." He turned his attention back to Brennan who had recovered admirably from her initial surprise. "Do you think that agent Booth is physically attractive?"

Brennan glanced at Booth from the corner of her eye and then made eye contact with Sweets. "Yes, Booth has a well defined bone structure and symmetrical features that suggest he would be a very viable mate."

Booth wasn't sure whether to be stoked or gutted that she had described her attraction to him in such a clinical and detached manner.

"And, what about his personality? Do you get on well with agent Booth? Do you think that you would be stimulated by him mentally in a personal relationship?"

Booth scuffed his foot off the ground. "Ha, this is where I get shot down. Bones thinks herself a hundred times more intelligent than me."

Brennan frowns and leans across her chair into his space. "That's not true Booth, yes objectively speaking I have a higher IQ than you, I have a higher capacity for understanding complex structures. But you are more intelligent than me in the real world. You've taught me so much since we've worked together, I think that I have a better understanding of people now than I did before I met you."

Booth smiled gratefully at her and their eyes held for a few seconds before she leaned back and nodded at Sweets. "I think that Booth has alot to teach, and alot that I could learn from him. I don't think that I could be bored by Booth in a personal setting. Although we don't share the same values, I've come to respect his beliefs."

Sweets checked his watch and nodded at them both, he was sure that this had been enough for today's session. This session would definitely be at the forefront of their minds for the next few days as they struggled to work towards the resolution of their underlying tensions. "I think we'll wrap it up now. We'll carry on with this discussion on Tuesday during our next session. I think we are making excellent progress here guys."

Booth and Brennan stood silently. Booth guided her around her chair and towards the door. Both were lost in quiet contemplation about their recent revelations.


	2. Your choice

Ok, so as you may have noticed I've got 3 stories on the go.

It's been such a long time since I've posted and I've just really been enjoying all of the work out there from other writers that I haven't felt the need to get the creative juices flowing, so to speak.

What I need though is a bit of help from everyone, I'm only going to continue with one story at a time, so what I need is for you to let me know which one I should go with first.

I've got individual ideas for each of the stories but I am completely stumped as to which one you will want to read.

Review and let me know. I promise that whichever one you choose will be packed with angst.


	3. Chapter 3

The drive back to her apartment was uncharacteristically quiet, both seemingly lost in their thoughts. As Booth notices them closing in on her part of town he chances a glance at her. She is looking out of her window, her chin resting on her palm.

"You ok?"

She turns to him and forces a smile. "Of course, I'm fine."

"So what's your plans for tonight..heading out with Angela? You two trawling the DC streets for man candy.. did I say that right?" He chuckles and flashes the charms smile in her direction. The smile disappears quickly when he sees the less than impressed expression on her face.

"Do you really think that of me? That I'm so shallow that I'll only ever be interested in physical gratification with men.. that I'll have sex with random men I pick up in bars?"

His eyebrows threaten to shoot off of his forehead at her question and he carelessly manoeuvres the Sequoia to the side of the road and pulls up alongside a pizza parlour.

"Whoa Bones.. I didn't mean that, I was fooling about. Of course I don't think that of you." She's refusing to meet his eyes so he leans across and places a gentle hand on her shoulder causing her eyes to meet his. "I'm sorry, can we start over?"

After a few seconds her expressions shifts and her eyes soften. "I'm sorry for snapping at you. I guess I'm just tired."

He smiles gently. "Hey, it's ok. I take it that means no night on the town with Angela?" He silently curses himself for the hint of hope that appears to have crept into his voice.

She grins at him and shakes her head slowly. "Angela is entertaining tonight."

"Oh." He gives her a knowing grin. "Guess that means it's you and me Bones. How does pizza sound?" He nods at the pizza place outside of her window.

"Only if I can have jalapenos on it."

He starts to get out of the Sequoia and pulls a face at her. "You know I can't handle those chillies, it's unnatural that you can eat seeds of hell."

She rolls her eyes at him and watches him walk around the vehicle and into the shop. Resting her head against the window she observes him inside and sighs gently. She thinks back to her time in Sweets' office with Booth, had he really believed that she thought him beneath her? She is well aware that Booth is an attractive man but having Sweets bring up the forbidden conversation had unnerved her, _has_ unnerved her. She's just happy to be back in a situation where she has some control, and she's grateful at not having to spend another Friday night alone.

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He drops a half eaten slice back into the box and groans loudly, "Those chillies are not going to be nice to me tomorrow morning."

"Well it'll be your own fault for eating my half."

Booth pushes himself up from her floor and sweeps the box off of the table heading towards the kitchen. "Come on Bones, you couldn't manage a whole half of pizza, no matter how good it is... It's why you are so..slim."

He dumps the box near the garbage can and pulls a beer from the fridge. When he starts to head back into the lounge to join her he notices the frown on her face. "What?"

"You were going to call me skinny."

He flops onto the sofa next to her. "What? No,... Is that a bad thing? I mean I wasn't going to say skinny... but would that have been offensive?"

"Yes, I have a small frame, but I am proportional."

Booth turns to her and smiles gently when her eyes meet his. "Bones, I think you're perfect." She smiles back at him gently, slightly embarrassed. She chuckles and pulls her eyes away, noticing her discomfort he grabs the remote from the arm of the chair and flicks on the tv. "Ok Bones, what have we got?"

She watches him out of the corner of her eye as he flicks through the channels and smiles gently to herself before taking a long drink from her wine glass, the tension between them immediately forgotten.

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It is Booth's weekend with Parker, he'd told her excitedly about their plans the night before so she hadn't expected to hear from him until Monday, so needless to say she is surprised when he calls to tell her that they have a case but even more surprised when he tells her that Parker found the evidence.

When she arrives at the scene Booth grumbles a little about having to give Parker back to Rebecca but his annoyance disappears when she starts spouting off facts about Possums. In fact though his expression doesn't betray it, he's impressed.

The case involves a veterinarian killed by a dog. She manages to pull a few strings and Cesar Milan agrees to assist on the case, he too makes the same mistake of thinking that her relationship with Booth runs deeper than the 'strictly professional' tag that they like to label their partnership with, and though she brushes it off, she is struck by the increasing frequency that they encounter that particular assumption.

The case is wrapped up quickly, the killer a med student, the weapon a dog. The victory of another case closed would taste sweet if it wasn't for Brennan's loss. She'd developed a bond with Ripley, the dog responsible for the veterinarian's death, and not understanding the law surrounding dangerous dogs she had set her mind on adopting him. Booth delivers the news of Ripley's euthanization and she is hurt once more. Hating the sadness that mars her face he takes her to bury the dog and holds her when her sadness overwhelms her.

That brings them up to now, another session with their young shrink. Sweets is scribbling down notes even though nothing in particular has been said by either partner. A short huff from Booth causes the psychologist to look up and cross his hands in his lap. Brennan looks as though she would rather be anywhere but here.

"So, I want to pick up where we left off last week, I think that we were making excellent progress and I would like to further explore the issues that we were touching on."

Booth stiffens noticeably, his brow furrows and he studiously avoids both Sweets' and Brennan's eyes. Brennan simply tugs her sleeves down on her jumper and calmly folds her hands in her lap.

"What did you guys do when you left last week?"

"Bones and I had pizza, couple of beers and tv."

Sweets nods smiling, "Anything else?"

Booth sits forward conspiratorially and smirks. "Yeah, then we had mind blowing animal sex on her living room floor." Booth smiles cockily at Sweets who gives him a disapproving look. Brennan on the other hand looks mortified.

"No we didn't! We didn't Sweets."

Booth rolls his eyes and turns to her. "I wasn't being serious Bones."

Holding her palms out towards Sweets she leans into whisper to her partner. "He may not know that Booth."

Sweets smiles reassuringly at her, "It's ok Dr Brennan, I know that Agent Booth was simply being facetious."

Booth turns to the young agent. "Careful Sweets."

Sweets has the grace to look reprimanded and starts to write on the notepad in front of him "Do you often have sexual fantasies about Dr Brennan?" He looks up just in time to see Booth's jaw drop in complete shock. Brennan, on the other hand who doesn't appear to be phased at all, is turning to face Booth, her face showing interest. Booth's eyes dart nervously between his partner and the psychologist.

"That's ridiculous Sweets, of course I don't have fantasies about Bones!"

Brennan's face contorts into a confused frown and Sweets jots down another few words on his pad. "Why is it ridiculous Booth? It would be considered completely rational and not at all unheard of for you to include me in your sexual fantasies from time to time." Booth looks at her in mortification. "Men on average fantasise for a few hours each day, and since we spend most of our working time together I think it wouldn't be a surprise if I had featured in one or two of those fantasies."

Booth can't tear his eyes from her, he is sure that the earth is about to open up swallow him, or maybe he is hoping that it will. Sweets smirks to himself and turns to Brennan.

"Have you ever fantasised about Agent Booth, Dr Brennan?"

She looks straight at him and nods. "Yes. I have no control over my fantasies, Booth is an attractive man, and I spend alot of my time with him. I would rather not have those thoughts about him because it's not professional, but I won't deny that I have indulged on occasion."

When Sweets turns back to Booth he notes that the agent has his head in his hands and is squirming in his seat. "Could it perhaps be that you don't find Dr Brennan attractive?"

Booth's head shoots up and he responds without hesitation. "No." He realises that he has answered perhaps a little too quickly. "I mean, Bones is an attractive, intelligent, strong woman. I don't think that there are many straight men out there who wouldn't be attracted to her." He chances a glance at her then and sees her inquisitive stare aimed back at him.

Sweets frowns. "So you are attracted to her." Booth clenches his jaw.

"I'm saying she is an attractive woman Sweets." He manages to get the words out barely through clenched teeth. "Can we talk about something that might actually help Bones and I, I don't see how this is relevant."

Brennan leans forward in her seat. "I think that Sweets is trying to rule out sexual tension between us." She turns to Sweets and gestures to the space between her and her partner. "We've spoken about the line before, we are professionals. We won't let attraction get in the way of our work, we're both rational and if either of us felt inclined towards that kind of attraction I am sure that we could work past it without having to inform the other. We just don't consider each other in that way Sweets."

The sureness in her voice bothers Booth slightly, but he doesn't want to make either of them aware of that. Sweets misses the look of hurt that passes over Booth's features as he scribbles furiously on the note pad. "How can you be sure of that Dr Brennan?"

"What?"

Sweets looks her dead in the face. "You asked me to help you to advance your people skills, to enhance your ability to read emotions from expressions." She frowns, unsure of where the psychologist is going with the conversation. "How do you know that Agent Booth doesn't have those feelings for you?"

"Because he's my partner."

"If you can't recognise the emotions that he displays when he is interacting with you, how can you honestly claim to know how he is feeling, or how he feels about you?" Booth goes to interrupt, Brennan seems to be thinking her answer over, but Sweets holds up a hand to stop them both. Looking at his watch he smiles and puts the lid back on his pen. "Look at the time. This will need to wait til next time."

Booth is out of his seat and grabbing Brennan out of hers, Sweets bites back a chuckle as he watches the agent bustling the confused anthropologist out of the office door throwing a goodbye behind him as they go. "Clueless."

Brennan protests as Booth steers them quickly to the elevator, grumbling about his enthusiasm for leaving, all the while Booth is trying to think of a way to get Brennan to stop her 'emotion reading' sessions with Sweets, the last thing he needs is to be ganged up on by both of them. He shudders at the thought.

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**Sorry it took so long guys. **


	4. Chapter 4

He closes his door behind him wearily and heads straight for the kitchenette to pick up what he considers to be a well deserved ice cold _American_ beer, not the Peruvian crap she likes to force on him from time to time. Heading to the lounge, he shrugs off his jacket and loosens his tie, discarding them on the armchair he flops onto the couch, rolling up his sleeves he flicks on the TV and rests his head against the back of the sofa, the beer resting in his hand. If only she knew what torture her words were going to inflict on him.

_I would rather not have those thoughts about him because it's not professional, but I won't deny that I have indulged on occasion._

His no-nonsense, staid, yet sexually charged partner had fantasised about _him_! His heart had hammered in his chest at her admission, and by Christ he knew that tonight, and quite possibly every day for the rest of his foreseen life, he was going to be fantasising about her, fantasising about him.

He groans and takes along drink from the bottle and pops the top button of his shirt undone. She had to realise what effect her words would have on him. Before he can help it, he's trying not to imagine what she fantasies about, where she imagines them satisfying 'biological urges', when she imagines them. Another groan and he pushes himself to his feet, it would appear that staying in this evening is a bad idea, too much time and space to think about the beautiful woman that he knows he shouldn't be thinking about. Making his way to the bedroom to freshen up and change his clothes he decides that a stiffer drink is in order.

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Sitting at the bar he is grateful for the noise, the people milling around, the straight whiskey in front of him. This little distraction is definitely welcome. What isn't welcome however, is whomever it is that has just bumped against his back, as he turns from his position at the bar he comes face to face with the Jeffersonian's only Angela Montenegro.

"Sorry... Hey Booth." She flashes him a genuinely surprised smile. "You here on a date?" He hasn't had chance to answer and her eyes are already scouting for a potential female companion.

"No, just needed to get out of the house."

She smiles warmly and grabs his arm almost hauling him off of his stool. "Great, come join us." He barely has time to grab his drink and jacket before he finds himself standing in front of a small table occupied only by his partner.

"Look who I found sweetie." Angela seats herself and Brennan glances up from rummaging around in her purse.

She gives Booth a confused look as he seats himself next to them. "I thought you were having a quiet night in?"

He grins at her. "I thought you were too?"

Angela grins at Booth and leans in closer "I convinced her to come out for a couple."

Brennan gives up looking for whatever secrets her purse holds and gestures to the artist. "Angela has a date tonight and needed someone to kill sometime with before she meets him."

He takes a quick drink from his glass and frowns. "A date?"

Angela smiles and nods. "Yeah, met him at a gallery down town, he's an artist...incredible hands." Booth holds up a hand and signals that he could do without hearing the finer points of how incredible her date's hands are, or have been. Looking over Booth's shoulder she smiles. "In fact there he is right now." She turns to Brennan and lets out a quick breath. "Ok sweetie, how do I look?"

"You look beautiful Angela." Angela gives her a quick peck on the cheek and grabs her coat from the back of her chair.

"Goodnight you two. Don't do anything I wouldn't do, unless you are going to fill me in that is." With a wink she is off leaving Brennan to chuckle and shake her head. Booth turns to watch her embrace a younger attractive male before returning his attention to his partner.

"Where does she find them?"

Brennan frowns and shrugs. "She said she met him at an art gallery."

He chuckles "I wasn't being literal Bones."

"Oh. Well she is an attractive woman, with a very healthy sexual appetite, it's only natural that she wants to explore her sexual attraction to men."

He can hear the alarm bells ringing in his head and the words blurt out before he has a chance to stop them "She could just stay at home and fantasise about me like you do."

Her eyes shoot up to his, and rather than show the full horror that he is feeling at his words he settles for a full on cocky grin, and God help him, she ducks her head and smiles almost shyly. His groin tightens in response to her bashful expression. "I knew as soon as I admitted that you would bring it up again." He smiles and takes a drink of his whiskey. "But, like I said, it's a natural and unwilling consequence of us spending so much time together."

"It because you think I'm hot Bones, I'm your sexy FBI guy." She chuckles and takes a drink from her own glass. "So am i any good?" He waggles his eyebrows at her not wanting to even think about where this courage is coming from.

She fiddles with the glass in her hand and nods slowly. "Yes, I would have to say that you have been very good in the past. However, I should also point out that your ability to satisfy in my fantasies is really only a credit to my good imagination."

Booth smiles slyly and brushes a piece of imaginary fluff off of his shoulder "You are just another victim of the good ol' Seeley magic." She shakes her head as he leans towards her."So...what kind of things do you fantasise about?" She opens her mouth to speak but he suddenly realises his error."You know what Bones, I'm sorry, forget that. Fantasies are private, and really I don't wanna know."

"It makes no difference to me, they are involuntary."

"No seriously, let's talk about something else." He'd come here to get the idea of her fantasising about him out of his head, and here he is adding fuel to the fire. Tonight's torture is going to be ten times worse than it would have been had he just stayed in and knocked one off.

The rest of the evening passes in companionable conversation and stories of past cases and their childhood.

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He'd gone home that night, alone, as always. He'd insisted that his cab drop her off on his way, even though it was in the opposite direction of his flat and he'd made the cab driver wait til she waved from the building entrance before they drove away. He'd crawled onto his bed and imagined her touching herself while thinking of him, he jerked off and her name and a curse left his lips as he came. Sleep had come easily after that and he'd slept dreamlessly until the morning.

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**Sorry it's taken so long to update. I'll keep on top of it from now on. Hopefully, lol.**


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